Defensive breakdowns hurt GHS icers

January 23, 2009

GAYLORD — It was a night the Gaylord hockey team would rather forget.

The Blue Devils struggled defensively in front of the home fans, falling 6-4 to Big North Conference foe Cadillac.

“It was a total team defensive breakdown,” said Gaylord coach Pete Wilkinson. “We did not have it. We weren’t doing the little things we’ve been doing to be successful. We didn’t invest enough personally into the outcome of the game.”

Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for the Blue Devils (5-8-1, 1-5 Big North Conference) the past couple weeks, but giving them up has, with back-to-back games with six goals allowed.

Gaylord was forced to play catch-up right away in the first period, as the Vikings (10-4-1, 5-2 BNC) got two goals from Will Badner and one from Sean Kennedy. Senior Jeff Birk’s 12th goal of the season helped soften the blow, but Cadillac still had a two-goal advantage at the intermission.

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“Our effort level was a bit suspect in the first period, but we really picked it up in the second and third periods,” Wilkinson said.

Gaylord attempted to cut into the lead early in the second when junior Joey Zaborowski scored off a Matt Zaremba feed. Cadillac’s P.J. O’Hagan pushed it to 4-2, before the Blue Devils again cut it to one goal when senior Hunter Stier scored off an assist from junior Brennan Borowiak. A late goal by Cadillac’s Kennedy made it 5-3.

Cadillac increased the lead to three goals early in the third when Brock Wilhelm scored. Gaylord’s Justin Kelly notched a goal later in the period, but it was too little, too late. For Gaylord, senior Kyle Eckert had two assists on the game.